America First

America First is more than a political slogan. It is one of the oldest questions in American life spoken in modern language:

Who is America for?

In this timely and searching narrative, America First: A Narrative History of an Idea traces the phrase beyond campaign rallies, headlines, courtrooms, borders, and culture wars into the deeper American argument that has shaped the nation from its beginning. What does it mean to put a country first? Who belongs inside the circle of protection? Who gets remembered, who gets forgotten, and who decides what patriotism requires?

Moving from the Trump era to globalization, immigration, institutional distrust, the culture war, foreign conflict, and finally back to conquest, citizenship, prosperity, and empire, this book invites readers into a larger story than partisan politics alone can tell.

Neither a simple defense nor a simple condemnation, America First explores why the phrase inspires loyalty in some Americans and alarm in others. It examines the wounds, hopes, memories, fears, and contradictions that make the slogan so powerful-and so contested.

For readers interested in American history, political identity, nationalism, populism, patriotism, and the future of the republic, this book offers a bold and accessible journey through the argument beneath today's arguments.

America has always told stories about itself.

This book asks whether the nation is brave enough to tell the truth.